


Blood and Roses

by sunlitflowers



Series: Movie AU Series [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Torture, F/M, Forced Marriage, Vampire Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-08 02:14:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7739536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlitflowers/pseuds/sunlitflowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>inspired by Blood and Chocolate. </p><p>Australian university student Belle French is researching vampire lore in Scotland for her thesis on fictional stories around the world. She meets Rumpelstiltskin, a strange man who keeps mostly to himself but answers most of her questions patiently with a little trill in his voice. They almost immediately fall in love with each other. What she doesn’t know, is that he is a vampire promised to the Queen of the Dead, Cora.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happy Place

When Belle was a child, the entire world was filled with magic. She believed in the legends and that destiny was something wonderful and spectacular. After her mother died, she wished it was the one she never knew. It is painful the day someone finds out their lived one is gone and possibly even more so during the funeral. For Belle, that wasn’t the issue. It was every birthday after. Every wedding anniversary after. Every first day of school after. For the rest of her life, she was completely alone. When it came time for university there was but one answer. She wanted a degree in library science in order to keep the balance between her land without magic and her land with magic at peace. She could escape when she wanted to and she could keep her mind in tact for finals when necessary. Time marched on and didn’t stop for anybody. There was no use crying about it any longer. There was still so much for her to do.

For the last several hundred years there were rumors floating around in Scotland a bit more grim than in the old loch. Those who received the Glasgow Smile started making reports that their attackers drank the blood as it fell down their cheeks and across their necks. The ones who survived such an attack, anyway. There were tons of cold cases where tons of blood was mysteriously drained from the body after committing such an act. Unconfirmed reports deep within the creepy pasta forums gave statements that every single victim had their heart ripped out and eaten for dinner by a group of cannibals. When her father found out that she was going to Scotland for research on a thesis, he was less than pleased. Her intentions were to just go and study how the legends in one country differ from another and if this was important or not in communication. Her professor gave the go-ahead, she had enough money saved from cleaning house and hustling people at pool, and so she was on her way. 

Being there for school, she got a decent rate at a cheap motel that would allow her to stay for a couple of weeks or indefinitely if necessary. A wireless internet connection was all she had been aiming towards and thus didn’t quite care about the quality of the bed springs (they screamed) or the pressure of the shower (no hot water). Belle was there to work and nothing else. She was able to understand their accent fairly well, as they her, and was enchanted by the first few people she spoke to. Even the sweat stained clerk at the desk of the motel. That soon passed when the cat calls came as she walked down the streets following the map of outdated information. It was getting late and she was starving, having not eaten since the airport in Sydney, but she was determined. Finding the library tonight would make this journey faster and easier as the months passed. The internet could only grant her so much. There was nothing like opening a book she had never inhaled before. Every word, even in autobiographies, was personal and beautiful. That was an attraction which didn’t translate well over an impersonal screen.

Belle finally found what she was looking for and almost breathed a sigh of relief. It was dark, but she could just picture it lit up in the morning. As she grew closer, her admiration dimmed. St Andrew’s library was now apparently Saint Andrew’s Academy. At least it was. The large building was falling apart and the lock on the gate was rusted enough where one good hit with a heel would break it. She chewed her bottom lip in thought. There were other libraries that were more new, sure. But this place didn’t even look like it had been gutted and cleaned out yet. Until demolition day, if there ever was one, this could be a secret little place for her to study. Do her research wherever there was internet connection and come back here for peace and quiet. She thought of all the lonely and sad books that must be beyond the gates just waiting for a warm embrace. She’d love every page. Even those that were withered and mildewed deserved proper care. So it was decided before she could think twice and regret it. Commit breaking and entering in a country she barely knew for a book. What fun she was capable of.

Her heels barely made contact with the rusted chain before it broke. The iron bars scraped against the cobblestone beneath then dug into the high grass and weeds. Belle looked around and found nobody keeping check on this. There were people scattered around, but nothing too major. She paced herself into the old school building just in case there were rotted smells or falling down boards. She took out her phone and used the flashlight to survey the grounds. If the police locked it up after this for whatever reason, she wanted to know another place to get inside. A storm shelter in the ground behind lead into the back which would be perfect. She pushed it open and walked through the almost catacomb looking sections. Moss had begun to grow all along the walls and she jumped at the sounds. The mice didn’t scare her one bit. They were just trying to get back to their own homes somewhere around and she happened to be in the way. 

Belle raised the door to come out of the floor and found herself in a large, perfectly kept, room. Mosaic fragments of color covered a kaleidoscopic picture for the largest window. She could just imagine being painted in the rainbow during the daylight. 

“Well, hello, beautiful!” A man’s high pitched voice sang from high up above and around her. She jumped, aiming the light of her camera around to search.

“What are you doing here?” 

A snickering little giggle followed through the man’s response. “You are asking me? Isn’t that funny. This is a sacred, protected place, dearie. You’re trespassing.”

“I’m not looking to steal anything other than time.” 

“Yes, I gathered. That’s all human beings ever want isn’t it, time?”

“I was just looking for a library. I’m doing research.” 

“And you thought there magically would be one if you broke in? Funny, funny, dearie.” A creak sounded from behind her. Aiming the light there, shadows of a person illuminated on the dark walls. “What are you researching?”

Belle licked her lips, heartbeat going a thousand miles a minute against her neck. “Stories. How different they are told and how it affects the way we communicate. Why a scary story about Glasgow traveled the world and made it a horrifying legend.”

“The Glasgow Smile? How boring. But! At least you are not. Tell me more.”

She could feel him all around her like a predator examining its pray before jumping. She was not the injured antelope. She could run at any given moment. “Come out into the light and I will tell you whatever I know.”

“Hmm…” The sound was deeper than the rest and shook dirt from the ceilings onto the ground around her. “What if I don’t?”

“You will let me leave unharmed.”

His laugh was louder this time than a moment ago. “You think I’m going to hurt you! Dearie, you do look royally divine. But I just had a marvelous dinner. I’m just in the mood for a little conversation. Ask me something more interesting than a harmless little prank.”

Belle flinched. That ‘harmless little prank’ had killed hundreds in the last decade. “Vampires. Everyone has a separate story about them.”

“Much better answer. I have studied them as well. I’m what you may call an expert on the topic.” 

A strange feeling of hope that this man may be a good source of knowledge filled her chest. “We could work together. Tell me your name?”

“One alias is as good as another.” 

“Mine is Belle French. I’m from Australia.” 

“Oh, I won’t soon forget that accent.” If he was trying to flatter her, he succeeded. She couldn’t begin to imagine why or how, but she stood her ground. “You may call me Mr Gold.”

A man stepped forward from the shadows wearing an old knitted blanket around his shoulders. His hair was not too long and looked soft. He didn’t resemble any kind of way that she would have pictured him given enough time. Before her may as well had been a college professor seeking answers just like the rest of them or a man searching for something more. Perhaps, it occurred to her then, he was. She couldn’t have been the only person in all of Glasgow that desired a fortress of solitude. She should have counted her lucky stars right then that there were no homeless people more dangerous than the one before her now seemed. 

“You’re…?”

“Very protective of this place. My sincerest apologies.” He placed a hand over his chest. Belle was going to say ‘human’ but felt that inappropriate now. “May I share my stories with you, collector?”

Scotland was a treasure trove of legends. Belle followed along as Mr Gold told her of the wondrous things that even the greatest historians and storytellers would not know. Even if none of it was true, she enjoyed hearing his stories and the way he told them. Vampires did not detest garlic. Anyone who reeked of it was not the company they intended to keep. Only some slept in coffins. They still had claustrophobia and some times it just wasn’t a viable option. It helped with deep slumbers and blocking out the sun but not to use all of the time. They did drink human blood and any who didn’t was lying to themselves. The sun scarred their flesh and it would begin to rot after about twenty five minutes if they didn’t take cover. They could, if intelligent enough, create a sort of cover in order to hide their vampiring appearance. There were some horrifically marred by the sunlight that even the brightest of their age couldn’t hide it. It wouldn’t let them go into direct sunlight of course, but it hid them.

“Well, don’t stop there. You mustn’t forget the greatest legend of all.” A woman’s voice came from behind them as they walked down one of the many halls in the labyrinth. Belle turned, hand reflexively gripping Mr Gold’s arm.

“Miss French, Regina. Regina, Miss French.”

“What greatest legend?”

“Never bring an O-positive on their grounds.” Regina smiled, all teeth and berry colored lipstick. Belle’s o-positive ran cold right before she fainted.


	2. People Person

“Dad, I’m fine. It happened three blocks away!” Belle assured her father’s worries. Maurice had been all over Glasgow news since she had left. Apparently there was an attack in the city the night before. Good thing she’d stayed in all night. And for the last two or three weeks.

She had woken up with a book on vampire laws that she had never considered before. It was all written down and Belle wished she could remember what library it came from. Within the pages was theories on how they lived among humans through cloaking, how the garlic was a myth and they didn’t take photographs so they couldn’t be seen in history. There was something about their belief in a prophecy, but it was ripped out. Another page talked about the marriage rituals. That word was crossed out and replaced with different forms of ‘mate’ as if they were far more animalistic than humans may have thought. Every seven years, the leader chose a new spouse. It was a law that they stayed together and drank from the same neck. Betraying any of that would mean instant death.

The clans of the world would meet during that last day in the seventh year. The night before the leader chose a spouse was used for a grand hunt. They went to this large lake during the full moon like dogs. The former spouse was ripped of their vampire abilities and eaten as if they were nothing. The leader ate the heart. The only way they could survive was a five second head start swimming across the lake. Once across there, it was five seconds into town. By their laws, they would not just go attacking humans in their natural habitat. It was vicious and vile the amount of detail that was put into this book. Belle closed it and left the hotel for some fresh air. At least based off this she could explain the differences of vampires between Scotland and Australia. With the pop culture climbing over them and zombies, this was sure to be a great way to show how it would change the way stories in movies and television shows worked which influenced people’s communications. She was very proud of this. 

Belle had been sitting in the outside area of a cafe for hours trying to figure out her next sentence when he walked by. It was dark and stormy outside and he moved so fast, she had barely seen him. He was gorgeous. Her blood pounded in her neck as she felt the indescribable need to go talk to him. She gathered her courage and her stuff and began following him with the most joy in her chest. As he ducked around a corner, it drove her mad. She couldn’t let him get away. She followed around vendors, around tourists that were better than her at hitting on residents. She lost him in a space between two buildings, but something caught her attention. She looked up and falling down from a high story window was a rose and a black ribbon tied around it. She stared frozen in her steps and held out her hand as though she might caress it midair. The rose dropped right into her hand. 

“Are you lost?” Belle looked up to see a woman dressed as though she were about to attend a movie premier. 

“Um, no. No thank you. I thought I saw somebody come around here.” 

“Ah, well. Sorry. The only somebody that lives around here is a man and his soon-to-be wife.” 

Belle’s chest deflated, but she nodded anyway. “I don’t really know them, so. I’m Belle. Belle French.”

“Regina Mills. It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you. What are you visiting Scotland for?

Belle explained the whole deal about the difference in stories from one place to the next until it loses it’s origin, but left out the vampire parts. She didn’t want to scare the poor woman. Regina was kind and acted as though she was very interested in what Belle was talking about. She even fixed her map after seeing it directed her in a wrong direction. If she’d gone that way, all she’d find was a broken down old school and nothing more. 

“Don’t stay out too late these nights, Miss French. There’s scarier things in the shadows.” 

“Thank you, Miss Regina. I’ll see you around some time.” 

She yearned deeply to go see this library, but Regina was right. Glasgow seemed to constantly stay dark these last few days. With more horrendous crimes day by day, she didn’t want to be out too much. Belle walked back the way she came and happened by a flower shop she wanted to browse around. This place had been like a second home-away-from-home while in Scotland. Everything in it reminded her of Maurice. How the two of them and her mother had raised the shop from the ground up and it was now a moderate success the roses were always her favorites, but she could be partial to just about any yellow flower. The blue ones were the best as well, but hey didn’t get too many of them. Her heart knew he was nearby before her eyes saw him walking around with large bouquets of roses. Without acknowledging how strange it was to just go up and ask a potentially engaged man what he was doing later, Belle was stepping forward. She ‘accidentally’ bumped into him.

“Hi, I’m so sorry. You, um. You dropped this and I wanted to return it.” She presented the flower that had fallen from the sky.

“Keep it.” His tone was short, but his voice was the first accent that did something to her body. Still, that wasn’t exactly what she was looking for from him.

“Oh. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, Belle.”

She stopped and he did too halfway out the shop. “How did you know my name?” She saw the gold band on his right middle finger. Gold…gold. “Gold.”

“You have to leave now.” Gold shoved the bouquet into her chest. She was forced to walk backwards to the end of the shop.

“Explain to me what’s going on? Why did I not remember you.” 

“It’s better this way. Just please leave right now.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on and who you really are. I’ll be here every day-”

“Diner seven o’clock, okay?”

Belle was in Scotland meeting a man who she had one strange encounter with already and possibly blocked out her memory over something happening. And she was stressing over what to wear. He was engaged, maybe, it didn’t really matter. That didn’t hurt because he wasn’t single. It hurt because Regina had been there that night and acted as if they could be the best of friends today. She couldn’t remember anything after seeing Regina there. Belle tucked her hair behind her ears to see which looked better. She took a few deep breaths, hoping this dinner would leave her with answers and not a thousand more questions. With that in her mind, that this was just like an interview, she slipped into a black skirt and matching blazer over a white top. Nothing too dressy. She could do this. She was born to handle this.

Mr Gold was standing there looking just as handsome as she remembered him being with that blanket looking thing around his neck. He was pacing, nervous and she didn’t have the arrogance to believe it was completely because of her. She met up with him and they linked arms to take a walk before dinner. He explained something had happened at the church that night he’d rather to forget. He didn’t do anything other than get her home safe. Regina must had been the one to make her forget, he reckoned. Belle told him how hard that was to believe and he just scoffed. She changed the subject to avoid his personal opinions on people she considered her friend here.

“Are you engaged?”

“Are you asking if I’m single?”

“Not for that purpose.” 

“No. I’m not, but there is someone that wants to marry me. This,” He raised his middle finger at her. “Is from a previous marriage. I’m widowed.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She offered her genuine condolences.

They skipped going to the diner in favor of trespassing on private property because Mr Gold wanted to show Belle the best view in the city. It was dangerous to get to, but he kept her hand in his almost the whole way through. He let her climb over the half-brick wall by herself and she almost slipped. Apparently an art collector lived there. She was about to laugh thinking he wasn’t being serious, but he stopped her. He pointed up towards the security cameras in perfect working condition. They ran passed, hiding behind walls and sculptures so they couldn’t get caught. Finally, they were there. A place on the balcony with two giant golden statues of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses lining the architecture. They could indeed see all of Scotland from up there. She liked him. A lot. She believed neither he or Regina had anything to do with her not remembering what happened that night. She hopped up on the balcony to sit among Persephone and smiled as Gold kept her stable. 

“You look beautiful tonight.” 

It was dangerous to talk to strange men in the middle of the night. It was dangerous to let them walk her around town without a clue where they were. But boy, Belle French was a rule breaker here in Scotland. Even she knew that the moment her lips touched Mr Gold’s it was a bad idea. Yet here she was, kissing a man that wasn’t kissing her back. She stopped, was fixing to run away in complete and utter embarrassment, when he held her waist. All the way through her clothes she could feel how inhumanely cold he was, but she didn’t care. Maybe it was just the way he was. He looked genuinely apologetic, but still didn’t kiss her. He instead pushed her blazer apart and placed his ear to her chest. She stayed there, holding him against her chest. She wondered if he could hear her heartbeat. Her leg curled around the back of his waist as though she were his shield. It was a magnet that locked the pair of them together. She could feel it.

“I need to see you again.” She confessed like the stupid little smitten girl she was.

“You’ve no idea what I’m capable of, Belle. You should want to never see me again.”

“Please don’t take you away from me.”

“I could kill you. And your family.”

“Please don’t.” Belle whimpered at his threat. She was shivering as his fingertips gently stroked her cheek. Not entirely because it felt nice. She had never felt such a freezing temperature in her life.

Mr Gold removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Let’s get you home.”


	3. Itch

Mr Gold worked during the mornings and so he and Belle traded stories and stole glances during the night. Everywhere she went he was right behind to protect her. The killings around the country got worse and they could damn well be right outside her door and she would still believe he would keep her safe. But there was something still going on with him. Whenever she nicked herself on a thorny rose he brought her and bled, he’d bolt out. Not in a way that he was put off by it. More like he was terrified of blood. She looked into that and didn’t find too much. That wasn’t really an issue with her anyway. Exception was being around him during her period, but that wasn’t for another few weeks. That week wiped her out anyway and made her feel almost too weak to function, so she wouldn’t be up for doing anything. Especially not sitting around having dinner as they had been doing lately. 

“Belle, come on! You’re going to catch cold or hypothermia.” Gold warned as she ran through one of the spitting fountains in front of a bank. 

Belle stood between two of them and grinned as she prepared for another burst of cold water to pop out of the ground. She squealed and it must have sounded like something out of pain. One second she was standing right there and the next she was fifty feet away in his arms. As happy as she might have been, it was replaced with immense pain. She was completely frozen from head to toe, her joints so cold it felt like they were burning and cracking. He apologized and as things started going black, her vision went fuzzy. When she opened her eyes, she was sitting in front of a large bonfire. Gradually, her body became her own again. She looked away from the blinding orange ball of fire in front of her at the dark room. Once she focused on a spot, the outline of him came through. 

Yellow, cat shaped eyes found hers. A man that certainly resembled Mr Gold stepped forward out of the shadows. Belle flinched and tensed as he sat down next to her. The blanket that was always around his shoulders was now on hers. He raised it, as if that would explain the sudden new appearance, but it just made Belle all the more confused. It wasn’t really until he looked deep into hers that she could accept this was Mr Gold. She reached up to touch his cheek, but he backed away.

“What are you?” She stood, knees wobbly and still a little a.s though they had fallen asleep and she was now trying to walk on them.

“I don’t think you really want to know.” 

Belle removed the warm blanket and draped it over him. His diamond-fragments embedded into leather skin fazed away. Now he was Mr Gold as she knew him. She cocked her head to the side and felt her heart speed up as things started piecing together one by one. How he knew things which even the books didn’t. How he never wanted to go in direct silent. How he now licked his lips when her pulse was in her stomach. She was dinner to him. He must have gathered she had figured this out, because he closed his eyes and swallowed hard. 

“I said you didn’t know me.”

“That was three weeks ago. We’ve spent twenty days together in a row. You couldn’t find one second of the five hundred hours we’ve been together to say you wanted to eat me.” 

He was the reason for all of the murders. He was the exact thing that everyone in her life had warned her against going to Scotland. Gold hadn’t lied, but he didn’t tell her the one thing that would send her away from him. Belle should have left when he said that he could kill her and her family. She should have left the second that she found out he’d cleared her memory of what actually happened. What the hell was actually wrong with her? Why did she keep choosing to come back to him? 

“I don’t want to eat you.” Gold laughed that off a bit awkwardly. “I wanted you to make your own mind about me drinking…”

“At what point in our relationship do you think I would have ever thought it be fun to just have you consume my blood like it’s not the strangest thing?” 

“There are worse.” Gold muttered under his breath. 

“You’re a vampire. You’ve killed dozens of tourists every year.” What they were working on together to solve. “Is Gold even your real name?”

“Rumpelstiltskin. And I never killed those tourists. I want to know who it is as much as you do, because it’s someone in my leader’s clan.”

Belle crossed her arms over her chest. “Is there anything else you conveniently failed to mention?”

“I am engaged in an arranged marriage. Well, my people seem to think so. It’s presumed.” 

“What does that even-” Seven years. His leader was choosing a new spouse and wanted him. “Oh my god. Regina-?” 

“Has a human consort named Emma who belonged to Regina’s father when he was King.”

“You’re engaged to the Queen. Of vampires.”

“In Europe, yes. There’s one for each continent.” 

“We were doomed from the start and you knew that.” Belle realized and she feared the reason why he let this happen.

“I liked spending time with you.” At some point from the beginning of this conversation, Gold had stepped closer until she had to assume he could smell her blood.

“I like spending time with you, too.” The words were pulled from her deepest desires beyond her control. “Isn’t it too much for you to be near me?”

“I’ve been this way for three centuries. I’m not an idiot.” 

Some part of Belle had already forgiven him. Saying that he was a vampire and lived off of blood for three hundred years wasn’t exactly first date material. Or ever. She’d been around him long enough to trust that if he said he didn’t kill those people then he didn’t. Gold was still a source of information. She looked up to him, the half inch high difference really making a difference now that she was aware of what he could do. He leaned forward and, when she didn’t move away, placed his forehead against hers. Belle reached for his hand and held his fingers. He scraped a thumbnail against her flesh back and forth as soothing as possible. She removed the blanket that made him appear human and placed it in his hand. When Gold was in his Rumpelstiltskin form, she reached up to hold his cheek. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“You’re so cold.”

“I feel quite warm, actually.” 

A beat.  
She placed his hand on her neck where her pulse was.

“Does it hurt?”

“Only if they don’t care about us. Count Dracula was phenomenal at getting them to.” Mr Gold paused, moving his ear to her chest. “Your heart drowns every sound in this city out.” 

The idea of him ‘getting’ someone else to care for him so it wouldn’t hurt soured her. With his teeth deep in their neck it may not had matter to him or not. “Dracula was real?” 

“All myths stem from truth, dearie.”

“I want to know more. I need to know more.” Gold could owe her that courtesy. 

He pushed his lips into a fine line across his face. He walked over to the bonfire still burning as bright as a pariah. He pulled a table away from the springs of ember before it caught. He patted the smooth wooden top and motioned for her. Belle walked over slowly and hopped up on it next to him. Gold didn’t want to go too deep about his entire life story and she could understand that. They agreed that would come later if he played his cards right. For now, he told her of Cora.

At a certain time in his life, she was his second love. He changed her so they could be together not too long after she had a beautiful baby girl. He thought they all could be together happily ever after. That wasn’t the way that Cora wanted things to happen. Through a series of unfortunate events that he wouldn’t go into either, it was far too grim, she became Queen. She stayed that way after her long line of husbands for the last one hundred - plus years. He inadvertently had given her the power to take over everything. Now that Gold himself had obtained far more power than Cora could ever fathom, she needed him back. Misery loved company and all of that wonderful stuff. She had information on something he was very interested in and needed to stay on her good graces. At the time, if they meant marrying her, then that was what it took. Cora encouraged these killings of humans as long as it meant retaining their kingdom. Their race had been nearly blasted off of the planet and she was determined to repay the favor.

“So she’s the one killing humans. The one you’re engaged to.”

“Presumably.” Gold reminded. 

“How do we stop her?”

“That would require killing her. Do you have the heart?” 

Belle looked at the nonexistent space between them. She would had been upset with anyone else asking her such a question. She shook her head. “We have to do something.”

“There’s no way. Kill the Queen, kill us all.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. She definitely did not have the heart. Gold took her hand back in his and squeezed. As he spoke again, his claw-like nails dug into her skin. Not trying to hurt her. It felt…scared somehow. “At the end of the summer you’ll go back to Australia and be safe.”

“And if you went with me?” She asked, turning her lips towards his chin. She was so close to kissing him. So close to having him as hers…

Mr Gold stood suddenly and backed away from her. “You should go. I can’t have you thinking like that around me.” 

Now that his too enchanting charm was away from her, Belle blinked and brought back her clear mind. They’d known each other three weeks. Talking the way that she was, needing him right against her as bad as she had thought about, it was too soon. They’d kissed and it was wonderful, but that’s the limit she wanted herself. He was right. Staying around him was demolishing her health. That was how the vampires must lure them. If it was possible, she needed to get some rest at some point tonight and figure out what she could do. Mr Gold was a wonderful person underneath it all. She walked over to him and drew his face down to hers. Kissing him was definitely not a bad thing to do. His hair fell against her cheek, his fingers pressed into her hips. It was short and sweet for a goodbye smooch.


	4. Scratch

Rumpelstiltskin watched as Belle French left him. The gorgeous sway of her skirt, the droplets of water still stuck in her hair from the damned water spigot she had to go through. Every fragment of her was enticing. He hadn’t lied. He could control himself from drinking from her swan-like neck. If she had stayed one moment longer, if she asked him to run away back to Australia, it would have all been over with. He would have consumed her body and soul for his own desire and she would, out of her own control, begged for it. He should have sent her away whenever she asked if the bite hurt. She’d gotten over too fast that little annoyance of him being engaged and part of the same group of people who was killing tourists and natives. She was naive. He adored it. He liked her. Keeping Belle away from Cora and Regina was getting more and more difficult.

He needed to feed. Now.

Dr Whale had a wonderful system of protection. He supplied the vampires that were heavily injuring humans (giving him business) with the blood they needed. The stuff wasn’t the good clean kind straight from the source. He wasn’t in the mood for a sanitary kill tonight. Swooning someone into his home was not his thing and not right in his black heart. He was not going to seduce anyone. Not until she wanted to be seduced. It had only been three weeks but to say that he didn’t imagine Belle French naked in his arms would be a lie. Drinking her blood as she reached the height of her pleasure would be the sweetest wine. Those gorgeous legs wrapped around his waist, her hair flipped backwards. She would love it. He knew she would because it wouldn’t be until she needed it.

“Relax, Gold.” Victor Whale dared to warn him. “There’s more.”

“Stop giving me blood from someone with anemia. Cora’s going to come for your jugular.” 

Rumpelstiltskin stood, shoved the empty blood bag into the doctor’s chest. He dug for more, drank every plasma juice in the cooler.

“I have no idea who that is, so.” 

Rumpelstiltskin waited to address that issue after he finished feeding. The absolutely gross taste of the anemic had gotten cleansed from the rest of the dozens of pints. He washed his face clean and gripped the sink. It cracked under his hold, but Rumpelstiltskin’s life would be far better if he didn’t actually kill who gave him his fix. Dr Whale cleaned up the mess in the floor and dumped the gloves into the trash labeled ‘bio hazard’. When Rumpelstiltskin was a boy, his favorite food in the entire world were meat pies. If one was bestowed upon him, along with a good clean pint of blood, they would taste the exact same. He’d been a monster for three hundred years. Suddenly it was donning on him exactly what that meant. Exactly what being this way had done to everyone he’d cared about.

“What do you mean you don’t know who Cora is? She’s been getting our blood from you for decades.” 

“Is this Cora one you would trust easily?” 

So it was true then. Cora was getting her blood straight from the source. That was why their meals were getting better even when they were not doing a hunt. Rumpelstiltskin broke the sink off of the pipes and tossed it out of the window. He vanished out of it before Whale could say another word on the matter. There were things that needed to be taken care of. If she was going against the laws of their race, laws that had been put into place long before her birth, she was not fit to be Queen. Getting rid of her would be that much easier. Then, perhaps, Belle could stay and be safe with him on her arm. He could have his happiness. He would have his happiness no matter what it took.

Cora had a secret palace hidden beneath the old school that he was not allowed to visit. He’d let her have the space, but figured tonight was an exception. He raised the cellar door and dropped down into the soaking wet, rain drenched catacombs. He pulled a torch from the walls and smelled something that shouldn’t be down here. It was like a million pennies, rusted and disgusting. It was mixed with the literal scent of shit mixing with vomit. Something terrible was going on down here. Belle had walked these gutted out and cleaned sewers, how had she not even made any comment on this? He continued on walking towards Cora’s place no vampire in the world had been allowed to go. Perhaps this smell was only to block out anyone trying to come this way. Like a cloak. He’d taught her how to do that as well. It was why Belle and everyone had seen a broken down old school instead of what it actually was.

And for good reason. What Rumpelstiltskin saw made him run back out of that room and never wish to return again. If he had any ability to, he’d throw up everything he’d eaten for the last few weeks. He didn’t want to be this anymore if that was what it lead to. He had been this way longer and hadn’t done anything so drastic in his entire life. He’d made mistakes. He did kill whenever first starting out, more than anything else he’d ever met. But nothing to this level of violence. Rumpelstiltskin would kill if he needed, had done so ruthlessly. Seeing it so graphically in front of him was terrifying. Picturing Belle there damn near could make him cry. If Cora got Belle in her clutches…if Regina talked to her just the right way….

It was late and Belle was still pacing back and forth in her room. Which was wonderful for his needs because he needed to see her, but terrible for her. He picked up a rock and tossed it at her window. Her silhouette stopped and he threw another piece of broken cobblestone. Belle came to the window and opened it looking down. He gave a gracious smile and after she invited him in, he was there in her room within moments. Arms tightened around her waist and held her flush against his body.

“Do not trust Regina. Please don’t.” 

“What did you find?” 

“Terrible things. I have never seen such horror. Thinking of you there and how all it would take was a kind word.”

“I’m smarter than you give me credit for.”

“No, no. You wouldn’t be able to handle it, no matter how smart you are.” 

“Oh.” She understood, hugging his neck. His tightened around her waist. “Do you…do you want to stay with me tonight?”

Rumpelstiltskin nodded, but didn’t want to let her go to do so. She had to push his shoulders towards the very cheap box spring bed and laid him down. She took his blanket and draped it over the curtains for in the morning to protect him. They tucked under the covers and he wedged a knee between hers. Belle almost literally lost her breath. He buried his head against her chest, ear to her heart. He was holding her so tight she jokingly worried he may break a rib. It definitely already felt bruised. She kissed the top of his head and stroked his hair. Perhaps now she may be able to get some sleep as well. She lightly touched a dark red spot on the collar of his shirt. He’d drank blood tonight.

“Donated. I didn’t kill anybody.”

“Someone else’s.” Belle wanted to claw the taste and look off of him. 

This was exactly why he’d sent her away. Coming here was terrible and shouldn’t have happened. He was a grown man and things like what he’d seen shouldn’t have worried him so terribly. It was his irresistible charm, what all vampires admitted to bring in prey, and not anything that he’d really done. It was making Belle jealous. If she were a regular snack, he’d be able to make her do whatever in this world to be his one and only. She was more special to him than that. She was more than everything. He had to either get her away or keep her safe. Belle moved down, he frozen in place looking at her. She kissed his gaping mouth. She gripped his hand, laced their fingers and placed it on the other side of his pillow as she leaned her body over him.

“You’re making a mistake.” He mumbled, eyes shut tight. He didn’t want to stop this at all.

Belle placed a knee over him. “I want you. I don’t care if it’s been three weeks or three years.”

“It’s because I’m here. You won’t. It’s a charm thing.” 

“Tell me you don’t want me. That you don’t want this as much as I do.” She said while kissing from his perfect mouth down his sharp jawline to his wonderful neck. She slipped her hands up under his shirt and raised it over his head with no reason not to.

“You are so beautiful.” She praised, fingertips drawling lines over his body. 

Rumpelstiltskin looked exactly as she thought he might. She stayed still straddling his waist while giving him a moment to figure if he wanted to continue or not. After a solid second, she almost drew back. He pulled her tight and flipped on top of her in a very quick swift motion. Belle grinned up at him. A giggle left as he pulled down her shorts and settled between her legs. He drew his neck along the length of her neck, inhaling the scent of her blood directly beneath her flesh begging for attention. He could smell her sex as she spread her legs for more of him. He thanked his lucky stars that he did feed tonight prior before coming here. He could have demolished her body otherwise. Her moans breathing into the room beneath him, he was encouraged into doing so anyway. Her nails scraped along his back as he touched her. Kissed her. Tasted her. The sharp edge of his teeth excited goosebumps wherever they nipped in response to her nails. It was a game. A wonderful, pleading game.

“Please! Please, Rumple, please. I need it.” Belle felt as though she were going to die if he didn’t take her then and there.

So he did.


	5. Scab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning: torture

Belle woke up in a terrible hotel room naked and it wasn’t completely terrifying. She was alone, but leather fingers were holding her hand coming from beneath the bed. She wondered what Rumpelstiltskin was doing down there when she had covered the window the night before, but noticed the sun had snuck in anyway. She leaned over just slightly and kissed his knuckles. Him possibly holding her hand all night long after she’d fallen asleep from orgasm after orgasm (he was far too good with his tongue and fingers and every other fucking part of his body) made her happy. She liked somebody. She felt if she had a friend they would be equally as surprised and possibly supportive over this. She didn’t have too many to tell and that was kind of sad. Telling her father wasn’t a good idea either. At least not right now. They were serious or planning a wedding or anything. 

She had placed herself in the middle of what was fixing to be a war. Cora had done something that terrified Rumple into running to Belle in fear. Something was definitely about to happen. As she thought on what that might be, something occurred to her: Cora, Queen of the Damned and Doer of Evil, wanted to be with Rumpelstiltskin. And Belle slept with him. Belle didn’t think it was going to be an issue of jealousy so much as power. She squeezed his hand as her blood ran cold in fear. That feeding time was drawing near for them as well. What if Cora found out and sent every vampire in Europe after her? Or worse. What if Cora sent them after Rumpelstiltskin? He said he was powerful, but he couldn’t be so much against an entire battlefield. He had to have known what he was getting into coming here. That he did and came anyway was not comforting. 

His hand went limp in hers. Belle leaned over and noticed the gentle rise and fall of his sleeping form. She carefully placed his hand down on the floor and got up off the bed so she wouldn’t maybe squish him with the box springs. She went over to the window and hung up blankets like covers over the window. She shut the curtains so no one outside and below would see this strange woman blocking out the son. When that was done, Belle pulled out her laptop and got to work with all of this new information of how stories traveled from place to place. She couldn’t get a word out. Claiming that a species wasn’t real and just a child’s nightmare didn’t seem fair to someone she cared about so much. She leaned back in her seat and pushed her hair back from her face. She tied her tresses up in a messy bun a top her head while thinking of a way to get around this. She contacted her professor and asked if she could change the topic. There wasn’t enough information for a fifteen page essay. Instead, she proposed the topic of the way that people spoke in general to each other. Put that associates in communication to good use. Belle got the go-ahead an hour later that she could if they received a synopsis by Monday. She got to work.

She had not moved from the busted up table used as a desk for a long time up until her phone beeped it was time to call her father. Belle yawned, stretched and arched her back to popped it. She picked up the cell and hit the call button for the last person to be dialed. 

“Hey, papa. Are you fixing to go to bed?” Belle checked the clock on the wall as if it worked.

“Try to. It’s hard without yah, star shine. You’ll be home soon, though.” 

“That’s the plan. I’m having an amazing time here. My professor let me change my thesis to how people communicate with each other.”

“Sounds a little complicated. People talk too much sometimes.”

“I…I’ve met someone here that is helping me understand.” 

“That’s wonderful. I hope I can meet her.”

“They’re a he. And he’s…I really like him, papa.”

“So when you say you’ve met someone…you’ve _met _someone.”__

__“I know that wasn’t the plan. He’s brilliantly intelligent.”_ _

__“Plan-shman, man.” They both chuckled at his little joke. “Just be safe, alright? And I don’t mean…well, I do, but not…”_ _

__“I know, pop.”_ _

__Belle saved him, a hot blush rushing to her cheeks in embarrassment as she thought on last night and the distinct lack of protection. Even though she couldn’t get pregnant from him, she didn’t believe so anyway, it was still nerve wracking thinking of possibilities. Pretty soon, that’s what she was focused on instead of the conversation or work before her. She caught bits and pieces as her father talked about how the floral business was going. He’d gotten in a good shipment of roses and chrysanthemums this last week which would make beautiful arrangements with the baby’s breath. He couldn’t wait for her to see the wisterias growing outside of her bedroom window. Dread sunk into her at the thought of going home. Leaving Rumpelstiltskin. She wanted to fall into the moldy bathtub and cry her eyes out._ _

__Arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind and Belle could understand why she was suddenly this way. Now that she knew he was there, she could fight him out of her head where he claimed he wasn’t trying to be. She told her father goodbye and goodnight after hearing Moe yawn. Rumpelstiltskin, still with one arm wrapped around her, reached forward and scrolled through the document._ _

__“That’s not too bad. I’d put this sentence there, though. See how that flows better if you take this out? It’s more literal than analytical.”_ _

__“You must have slept well to be so attentive.”_ _

__“Meditation. I heard every word. He took news of me quite well.”_ _

__“You’re a bit of a miracle. Don’t let it go to your head.”_ _

__“And you haven’t eaten. Come one. Let’s eat.”_ _

__“It’s eleven in the morning. You’re not going out. Let me finish this page first.”_ _

__Rumpelstiltskin huffed and fell back on the bed. Belle knew that him being close and being awake- or not meditating apparently, was what made her want to jump him. She tried focusing on the last few words of the third-to-last paragraph, but couldn’t. Her insides were burning for him to hold her. She whimpered, body needing him something awful. She finished a sentence, closed her laptop, and put it on the charger. Synopsis would be finished before Monday. She could do this. She rushed herself over and pounced onto him with a deep kiss. She nearly broke the bed doing so. He smiled against her, pulling her tight and close against him so there was nothing between them. She leaned back only because her stomach growled._ _

__“Eat, dearie. Please do.” He chuckled._ _

__“I’ll go get something. When I get back, I have to work so…do that meditating thing. Because I need to be with you.”_ _

__“I adore you. Stay safe. Remember what I told you about Regina.”_ _

__“What should I do if I see her?”_ _

__“Act normal. Stay close to the hotel.”_ _

__“I can order a pizza?”_ _

__“I don’t want you scared of going out of what may be. Just be cautious.”_ _

__“I understand.” Belle nodded, kissing under his chin where his pulse was supposed to be. He hugged her tight. She made a decision then and there._ _

__Belle liked him far more than she initially thought. She thought she only felt it when he was around, but it stayed even as she went across the street to the little bistro. She ordered two burgers and stood to the side on her phone checking e-mails again. She thought about calling the hotel room to talk to him, but the phone line had been cut off some time recently. She made note of this with the manager who said all of the rooms lately were having an issue with this. She sighed and counted out her dollars. She thought about what she wanted to do tonight. She wanted to breech their level of trust. He hadn’t drank from her last night when they’d had sex, when she one hundred percent would have let him out of her own control. She wanted him to. She trusted him with every fiber of her being. If Rumpelstiltskin was right, it wouldn’t hurt. She could smell him still on her. She smiled, giggling._ _

__She dropped everything she owned and walked outside then down the street. She felt so happily in love and ready to give him everything. Belle swung her hands, fallowing the glorious daze of pink and orange in front of her. She could feel his hand in hers and looked towards the direction to see him smiling back at her. He said he loved her. She said she loved him back because she did. Wow, she had never been so devotedly in love. She would fall to Rumpelstiltskin’s feet and praise him. She would kill everyone that looked at him wrong if he asked. She would bathe in the blood of his enemies. Anything. Whatever it took to be his and only his. He was leading her and she followed as though his steps were law and if she disobeyed he’d leave her. Not that he ever would. No, no. She wasn’t letting anything like that happen. They went to the castle were she first met him that one night. She beamed. This was where they fell in love._ _

__They went down into the corridor and a desperate pain was replaced within her body. She called out in screaming pain over whatever was injected in her veins. She was paralyzed. Belle looked around for Rumpelstiltskin, finding him nowhere. But a woman with dark ginger hair in a beehive above her head. A crown of jewels around her head._ _

__Cora._ _

__“You took my fiance, Ms French.” Cora leaned in close, teeth barred._ _

__Belle tried to move something, but it wouldn’t work. A steel mouth guarded her mouth. She smelled blood, puke, and feces. Glancing towards the side, she could see other humans lined along as far as she could see from her peripherals. She couldn’t even call out in pain as barbed wire was tightened around her ankle. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. They were draining blood straight from the source and sending the blood down the sewer. Rumpelstiltskin had tried so hard to keep her safe. He’d told her. And she failed him. She couldn’t call for him. She couldn’t close her eyes. She couldn’t do anything. Her blood was spilling out of her wrists at an alarming rate. Her ankle-bones were cracking and splitting beneath the pressure of the restraints. She was sitting in glass. Any shift made them cut deeper into her._ _

__She thought of him holding her. She thought of him kissing her. She thought of her father tucking her into bed at night. She thought of her mother. She thought of her mother reading to her._ _

__Pain. That was it. This was it._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cried writing this one. if you enjoyed it, please check out my tumblr (sunlitflowers).


	6. Scar

Time did not pass in the catacombs. Things just deteriorated on their own. Belle was sitting in her own waste and she only knew that because of the smell and Cora’s commentary when the Vile Queen came by. She was being drained of her vitality and need to live. She heard herself breathing, but couldn’t feel it. She was losing everything faster than the others. Cora didn’t understand anemia. Cora didn’t like whatever Belle was doing ‘to herself’. Belle still could not open her mouth to explain or cry or call to wish for death. Cora thought she was pleading for life whenever their eyes met. Belle was a fighter, but every part of herself that would want in any other kind of situation was gone. She was desperate for any kind of sign that the outside world still existed.

Above her and the rest of the captives, an explosion for the third time. Powdered stone fell down and entered her lungs. She couldn’t cough and took deep breaths and swallowed what little of her spit she still had left. Another explosion and the above floor caved in. Large sections of stone and marble fell down along the sewer system, narrowly hitting the people trapped. It struck somebody’s foot, but she was certain they were dead anyway. She wanted to look up and see what had just happened, but the barbed wiring that dug in her ankles was around her neck. Any movement like that would kill her instantly. Groups of voices were talking and fighting. She heard gunshots and metal clanking metal calling for her to join them. She wanted to wield a sword like a heroic warrior and fight alongside the greatest in all of the world. She couldn’t and that was okay.

Now, at last, Belle could sleep. She closed her eyes and…

“No!”

Her eyes shut open as something sharp dug deep into her neck. It felt like two tiny daggers, but nothing hurt. This was the best thing she had ever felt in her entire life. Belle sighed with pleasure, her back arched. She felt as though the very culmination of her soul was being held and protected by someone who cared and loved her more than anything else. Her arms freely wrapped around their neck and pulled them closer. Their hand pressed into her back, rubbing gently, and lapped their tongue against her neck. She whimpered, needing more. Needing them. They took her hand and lace her fingers with their own. She loved them. They tugged at her hair to arch her neck and sent shivers up and down her spine. She felt like she was making love to this person and all they were doing was holding their teeth in her neck. Faith. Trust.

“Rumple?” Belle regained her senses. She could still fill the gorgeous euphoria and nothing else. She was freed and couldn’t smell anything she had before.

He pressed his hand into the back of her head as he withdrew his teeth. She went lax in his arms, chest heaving. “Belle. Sweetheart.”

“What the hell?” 

“I’ve looked for you for a month. Cora had you concealed and I couldn’t find you. You were almost gone…”

“Where…where are we?”

“You’re safe. I’m going to keep you locked away for a little bit, alright? Just for a little while.” 

“I need you to stay with me. Please.” 

“I’ll be back, just…” He licked his lips and Belle then saw that his mouth and teeth were covered in blood. Her blood. “You taste…not…good.”

Belle fixed him with a look. “Well, I was just tortured for a month.”

“It-it’s not that. Do you have anything I should be aware of?”

“Anemia?” She gawked when he pulled a face.

“That’s it. I have to go wash the taste out of my mouth.”

“Rumpelstiltskin Gold, I swear if you leave me in here while you go drink someone else’s blood after what I’ve just been through-” she stopped seeing him avoid her eyes. “That’s not the only thing that you’re doing. Is it?”

He shook his head. Belle looked down. She definitely needed to rest and wanted nothing more than to curl up with him for the rest of her life. She needed to call her father and let him know that everything was okay. She was meant to be home by now. She moved just a little to hug Gold tight out fear. He was about to go off and fight. Not for her, not entirely. He knew this was wrong. He wasn’t a hero by any means. He drank blood that could be used for a transfusion and save someone else’s life. He saved no one else aside from her. Gold pulled her in and rocked her gently against her chest. He promised to wait until she called Moe and found a way to sleep knowing what he was about to go do. Her body started convulsing realizing what had just happened.

Belle got up and ran towards the bathroom where she puked in the toilet. Acids burned out of her and she began to cry. Rumpelstiltskin walked in and rubbed her shoulders as he helped her stand. He leaned her back so she rested completely on his hand. He kissed the column of her neck while waving a hand over her body. He healed the physical injuries he hadn’t been able to when just making sure she was still alive. Glass fell to the ground where it had been absorbed by her skin. He leaned forward and kissed her mouth for comfort. Her blood was still on his mouth and she was certain her mouth tasted like vomit, so she grimaced and pulled back. She turned away and turned on the hot water for the shower. He watched Belle move around the bathroom and undress as though he weren’t there at all. 

“Go ahead and…feed.” She permitted, looking at him from over her shoulder. “I have some things I need to take care of.”

Gold nodded, fiddling with his fingers. “I-I love you.”

“I love you, too. More than you could ever know.”

“I was there with you in the happy place. I have a good idea.” He tried making her feel a little better. She said nothing in return.

In the shower, Belle was staring at her body. She was all scratched up, bruised and beaten. She looked like a doll a child might make but didn’t have all the matching fabric parts. He’d healed her, but only so she wouldn’t have to go the hospital and explain what happened to her. If he’d stayed another minute she would have done the stupid thing and said they would be best apart. Not necessarily because it was safer for him. But because it would be best for her. If she went home Cora wouldn’t follow. The Queen of the Damned would have the greatest King the world had ever seen. Belle’s heart would stay here and be safe from all harm. Separated forever, but worth it if they both did not die this horrible death. She needed him alive. She loved him.

Belle got out of the shower after just washing her hair. She didn’t want to touch her body for a long time after this. He could only because everything faded away when she was in his protective hold. As she walked across the floor of her hotel room in the middle of the night, she wished she had fought harder for him to stay with her. She opened her laptop and found her in box filled from her University and the professor asking if she was okay. She unhooked her phone from the charger and had forty seven missed calls from her father along with over one hundred text messages. They started off in a panic before him just telling her about his day. She hit the call button.

It was answered before the first ring.

“Hello?!” 

“Papa. It’s me. It’s Belle.”

“Belle! Belle, my darling. My sweetheart. I’ve not slept since your boyfriend called and told me what happened. He didn’t think you were coming out of that coma.”

Better that he think that she was safe and stable than what happened. “The doctors were amazing. I don’t remember too much of what happened though. What did he tell you?”

“That you were investigating a lead in a place you shouldn’t have been. You were attacked and he found you. He took you to the doctor, but you weren’t…” She heard Moe cough and begin to sob.

“Papa, I promise I’m okay now. I’m back at the hotel.” 

“Where is Mr Gold?”

She swallowed hard. “Went out to get something.”

“Oh no. He didn’t.” Moe sniffled. He knew Rumple was out doing something stupid.

“I’m gonna come home when he gets back. I need to tell him goodbye.” 

“I want you to, starlight. Believe me. But right now may not be the best time. There’s newscasters all over wanting you back. You should lay low.” 

“Lay low? Papa, I want to go home it shouldn’t matter.” Belle heard herself pleading. She cleared her throat. “I thought you’d be happy?”

“I am, I’m sorry. I don’t want you to be hounded is all.” 

“Darling, who is that?” Belle heard on his end of the line and her heart dropped to her stomach. 

“No one, dear!” Well fuck. 

Belle hung up the phone. She placed her face in her hands and cried her heart out. She had been tortured into oblivion for the last thirty days with no human contact other than the terrible words the Monster Queen spat at her in passing. All she had wanted was to leave this place and never return. With Rumple on her arm or not, as long as they were both safe. She wanted the comfort of her father. Like after she’d had a nightmare and he would make her a cup of tea and brush his finger along the bridge of her nose until she was calmed down and fell asleep. Not only had he moved on from her mother, he had completely forgotten about Belle’s predicament enough to have a girl over. He’d thought she was in a coma and instead of being on the next flight over like she always thought would happen he went out and met someone like Belle didn’t even matter. She thought her father would always protect her. Like a hero. But no.


	7. Healing

Belle didn’t leave her hotel room out of fear for three days. Rumpelstiltskin still hadn’t returned, but she knew he wasn’t dead because she was still alive. She kept the door locked and windows covered. He knew how to get in when it was time. She worked as best she could on her proposal, but Gold apparently had gotten in touch with the teacher as well and explained Belle was incapacitated. He’d demanded an extension. Rumple was extremely threatening even over text. Her paper was mostly finished anyway and just required revision above anything else. A changed adjective here, taking out an adverb there, making sure it was not personal. Despite the fact that everything here had become just that. 

She wasn’t returning to Australia. She had canceled her ticket about forty five minutes after she got off the phone with her father. After making sure that the money was returned into her account, Belle made plans to stay in Scotland. Not because she was head over heels in love. She had nothing to return to and nowhere to go. The university offered online classes in her field so she began her transfer. Lucky for her that this paper was for an end of first semester term and a returning student. All that was left was things she was used to doing. Paying for the class, being in contact with her academic adviser, constantly checking her email account. She was in the middle of typing a sentence when it struck her. She pushed the computer back and put her hands in her face. She cried for a moment or awhile. Then she wiped her nose, cleaned her face, and got back to work. 

Rumpelstiltskin appeared in her room covered in blood. He pleaded for Belle to close her eyes so he could go to the bathroom and clean up. She complied, not wanting to see him fresh from war. The smell made her sick. She felt like she was about to throw up, but held it. She went to the kitchen and splashed water on her face then took deep breaths. He came out of the bathroom still a little red stained and scarred, but essentially okay upon first glance. He’d traded his clothes for a bathrobe where, on further inspection, his leg looked worse. Belle walked over to him and untied the robe to see him standing bare. His entire body had been beaten and clawed at. She brought him closer and held him tight in her arms. Rumple whimpered and winced under the pain. She brought him over towards the bed and helped him lie down.

Through a long hard battle, he killed the Queen. Regina had disappeared and he looked for her, but she was absolutely gone. He believed he and Belle needed to as well. By the rule he was now the rightful King. He did want to be, but not at the expense of having a human mate. He would be protected, but he couldn’t guarantee the same thing for her. 

“I’ve been thinking.” Belle sat up. She took his hand in hers and looked at the lines on his knuckles. Some were swollen, others were bruised. Rumple hummed for her to go on.

“I want you to turn me.” 

Rumpelstiltskin groaned as he adjusted to lean against the headboard. “And why is that?”

“I love you. I’ve got nowhere to go. I want to be where you want to be. We could stay here. I know you hate the taste of my blood-”

“I don’t hate it.” He granted. He reaches forward to hold her cheek. “I love you very much, dearie. Trust me, there’s nothing more that I want in this world than to make you mine.”

“But you won’t.” She assumed based on what he was telling her.

“Not at the current time. I’m far too exhausted and worn to change you. For not, come here.”

Belle leaned against his chest. “So what happened to the other people that were…” 

“Let go and sent to the hospitals with their memory erased it was a vampire. Merely a cannibal which has been set afire.” Rumple interrupted so she wouldn’t have to find a word for what she’d been through. His blunt explanation of what happened to Cora was a misfire in that regard.

“I hope their families welcome them home with open arms.” 

He went quiet for a solid moment before speaking again. “Sleep. I will be here when you wake, but we won’t be here. We’ll be home.”

“As long as you’re dressed as much as this when I wake.”

Belle nestled into the crook of his neck and pressed against him. She would go where he needed to be as long as he remained safe. She dipped into sleep like sinking into a warm bath after a long day. She slept easier that night than she had since arriving and meeting him. She dreams of them together and happy, falling in love between the sheets night after night. There’s no other pleasure that can compare to his body tangled up with hers. Aside from when he drank her blood, but he disliked the taste. Sex with him was the close second and that was high up on her radar. Being with him intimately, doing anything together without saying a word, was her favorite least sexual. Rumpelstiltskin had her lusted heart no matter where he was.

As said, she was not in the hotel when she woke. Instead she was in a four post bed in a very dark room. Large windows lined the left wall while shelves piled to the brim with books were embedded into the right. Belle tightened her hold on the company near her. A fraction of a second later, lights surrounded the floor. From behind the gossamer curtains she felt as though she were sleeping a top a floating lantern. Pulling them back revealed thousands of candles and millions of rose petals. Enough to fill a completed garden. They gave light to what was actually around them. Immaculate, priceless paintings hung up and maps from different places around the world were drawn out. Many places contained a red pin while few others had a green. 

“Where I can’t be versus where I can.” Rumpelstiltskin explained. 

He wrapped his arms around her from behind. She then noticed that her clothes had changed. Instead of her shirt and pajama pants, she was now in a silk gown that went to mid-thigh. She smiled, leaning back into his hold. Here she could feel him want her.

“And where do you want to be?” She played, glancing over her shoulder.

He caught onto her game and kissed the corner of her mouth with his hand on her breast. “Do you still want me to turn you?”

“Will it hurt?” She managed to ask. He shook his head. “Then yes. I do.”

Belle turned around and straddled his waist. He remained completely undressed as she asked. Every injury he procured from the war with a Queen was gone. She looked at herself and found hers still remaining. In a motion, Rumple laid her back and began kissing at every one. Up one thigh then down the other and then placing her ankle on his shoulder. He moved his mouth against her thin underwear, teasing every inch. He nosed it aside to trace her in a perfect outline. Her hips bucked, thigh knocking against his cheek. His sharp teeth brushed against her far too sensitive skin. Her breath hitched and a moan slid from the back of her throat. She leaned forward and pulled him by him up over her. She needed him inside of her, thirsted for him. He asked if she was okay without saying any word. Belle nodded and her underwear was ripped from her hips by a single claw. He checks again if she’s alright.

“I am. I need you, Rumpelstiltskin. Now.”

Rumple waits until the height of Belle’s pleasure, one more thrust before she’s about to orgasm, before sinking his teeth deep into her neck. She comes the second that his are cut past skin. Her body goes limp, but he knows that she is alright. The very life was just being taken out of her. When the transformation is complete, he lays her back and kisses the bite mark. Her hair is fanned back and she genuinely felt as though they’d been having sex for days. The space between her legs had gotten sore. She wouldn't be able to walk if she tried. Her heartbeat was gone, but there was still warmth inside of her. Belle laced their fingers and smiled. He was no longer so cold she had to deal with it to be with him. They were the exact same temperature. They were together.


End file.
